Janet Walker


Janet Walker is a Chartered Arbitrator with offices in Toronto, Canada, London, England and Sydney, Australia. She is a Canadian scholar and author in the fields of Private International Law and Civil Procedure at Osgoode Hall Law School. Walker is married to Australian lawyer and international arbitrator, Doug Jones AO.

Education and teaching

Walker received B.A. and M.A. degrees from York University ; an LL.B. degree from Osgoode Hall Law School ; and a DPhil from Oxford University . She is a Professor and former Associate Dean at Osgoode Hall Law School, York University, where she teaches
Conflict of Laws and International Dispute Resolution and is co-director of the Osgoode Professional Development LLM Program in Civil Litigation and Dispute Resolution. Walker was the recipient of a Teaching Award in 2010 for her outstanding contributions to the Osgoode Professional Masters Program. She coached the Osgoode Hall team for the Willem C. Vis Moot during 2001-2014, including when it won the competition in 2004, and has sat as Arbitrator for the competition
from 2001 to present. Walker has also taught as a visiting scholar at a number of universities including:

Author

Walker is an author and scholar in private international law and procedure. She has authored more than 60 peer reviewed articles, as well as contributing to a number of text books and other works. She is the author of the current edition of Canadian Conflict of Laws, which has been cited more than 350 times in Canadian courts and described as "the most cited private law work in Canadian jurisprudence", and was co-author of the previous edition. She is also the author of the Conflict of Laws volume of Halsbury's Laws of Canada, General Editor of The Civil Litigation Process, General Editor of Class Actions in Canada, and co-author of Common Law, Civil Law and the Future of Categories.

Arbitrator

Walker is a Fellow and Chartered Arbitrator of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. She is a member at Arbitration Place, Toronto, a member at Int-Arb Chambers, London, and member at Sydney Arbitration Chambers. She also serves as Chair-Elect of the ICC Canada, a member of the ICC Commission, Honorary Secretary General of the International Association of Procedural Law, an Executive Board Member of CIArb Canada, and as a Board Member at the International Construction Law Association. She was the founding chair of the Toronto Chapter of CIArb, the Arbitration Roundtable of Toronto,, a member of Arbitralwomen, and a Freeman of the City of London at the Worshipful Company of Arbitrators.
Walker's arbitration matters include disputes relating to construction, distribution agreements, licenses, franchises, agricultural manufacturing, intellectual property, mergers and acquisitions, heavy equipment sales, employment, manufacturing supply agreements, and pharmaceuticals. She has served as sole arbitrator, chair and co-arbitrator in arbitration under the institutional rules of the International Chamber of Commerce, Dubai International Arbitration Centre, Singapore International Arbitration Centre , Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre and the International Centre for Dispute Resolution, as well as ad hoc arbitrations. She is a member of several institutional panels including those of the American Arbitration Association, Australian Centre for International Commercial Arbitration, Asian International Arbitration Centre, British Virgin Islands International Arbitration Centre,Chartered Institute of Arbitrators Presidential Panel, Chinese International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission, Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre, Japan Commercial Arbitration Association, Korean Commercial Arbitration Board International, London Court of International Arbitration, Shanghai International Arbitration Center, Shenzhen Commission on International Arbitration, Singapore International Arbitration Centre and of the former Canadian National Committee of the International Chamber of Commerce. She is also a Recommended Arbitrator at the Ukrainian Chamber of International Commercial Arbitration, a panel member of the London Chamber of Arbitration and Mediation as well as a member of the Arbitration Roundtable of Toronto, and the ILA Committee on International Commercial Arbitration. Walker also served as a member of the organising committee of ICCA Sydney 2018.

Expert/Consultant

For more than twenty years, Janet consulted and provided expert evidence in 60+ major crossborder and complex litigation on jurisdiction, judgments and applicable law. She also offered expert advice to members of the profession in the public and private sectors in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia.

Advisory Roles

Walker was the common law advisor to the Federal Courts Rules Committee from 2006-2015. She is Secretary General of the International Association of Procedural Law, and is a former president of the Canadian branch of the International Law Association. Walker was the CIArb Academic Advisor in 2014-2015 and she is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board, Max Planck Institute Luxembourg.
She has also served as a member on a wide variety of international and Canadian task forces and working groups including:
Walker has been among the Arbitration Lawyers recognised in Who’s Who Legal Canada and Who’s Who Legal International since 2010, Who’s Who Legal, and Best Lawyers since 2008. In 2018, she received the CIArb Canada Distinguished Service Medal.
Walker was a member of the Canadian Forces Primary Reserve 1977-2014 and of the Supplementary Ready Reserve 2014-2019 and has received the Canadian Forces Decoration, the Land Force Central Area Commander’s Award of Excellence and the Governor General's Horse Guards Commanding Officer and Regimental Sergeant Major’s Award of Excellence. She is the longest serving and highest ranking female non-commissioned member in the Regiment and was its first female Bandmaster. Walker has received the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal, the Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal, the Viscount Bennett Fellowship, and the Osgoode Hall Law School Silver Medal.

Memberships

Walker is a member of the University Club of Toronto and of the Athenaeum Club, London, and a Senior Fellow of Massey College, Toronto. She is an elected member of the American Law Institute, the International Academy of Commercial and Consumer Law and The Advocate’s Society. She is also a member of the Bar of Ontario, the Law Society of Upper Canada, the Canadian Bar Association, the International Bar Association and the London Court of International Arbitration.